CHINA. 



155 



thorities, with the approval of the Pope, agreed 

 to the removal of the cathedral, was vetoed by 

 France, although the missionaries were de- 

 sirous to please the Chinese Government in 

 this regard. The cathedral stands within the 

 palace-grounds, and is an offense to the Chi- 

 nese court because the towers overlook the 

 palace-garden. The circumstance that the 

 spire towers above the palace gives it, accord- 

 ing to a universal Chinese superstition, a sin- 

 ister influence over the fortunes of the royal 

 house, with which the early death of the last 

 two Emperors is associated in the popular 

 mind. The site was presented to the Pope by 

 the Emperor Kang-Chi, about two centuries 

 ago. In 1862 the French G-overnment in- 

 sisted in rebuilding on the same site, against 

 the protest of the Chinese Government, and 

 has resisted all efforts to have the offensive 

 structure removed. The Chinese are anxious 

 and determined to have this mark of national 

 humiliation, commemorating the fall of Pekin, 

 removed before the coronation of the Emper- 

 or. The indemnity paid by China after the 

 war of 1860 was used to rebuild the cathedral. 



The Pope finally yielded to the pressure of 

 France, and postponed the sending of an en- 

 voy to Pekin, but reserved liberty of action. 

 On Sept. 14 he informed George C. Dunn, 

 the Chinese special envoy, with whom the 

 negotiations had been conducted, that the dis- 

 patch of a legate was for the present sus- 

 pended, but that the agreement with China 

 with regard to the rack and independence of 

 the Papal mission to Pekin would be main- 

 tained. 



All the foreign powers, except Russia, had 

 already declared against further recognition of 

 the French protectorate over Catholic mission- 

 aries of their own nationalities. The Chinese 

 Government came to the decision that it would 

 not recognize French passports except those of 

 French priests, and would require from every 

 Catholic missionary going into the interior a 

 passport signed either by a consul of his own 

 nationality, or by an accredited agent of the 

 Pope. Demands for compensation or redress 

 of injuries on behalf of missionaries must be 

 made through the same channels. The Chinese 

 Government contemplated sending an envoy 

 to the Vatican, even though the Pope should 

 not have a representative in Pekin. The 

 French protectorate over missionaries rests on 

 no formal treaty, but has been tacitly accepted 

 since the war of 1860. During the Tonquin 

 war, in which Christian converts were enlisted 

 in the service of France against their fellow- 

 countrymen, the dangers involved in the ex- 

 istence of a body of citizens not only owing 

 spiritual allegiance to foreigners, but also look- 

 ing to them for secular protection, was brought 

 home to the Chinese Government. 



Persecution of Christians. In Chung-King, on 

 the upper Yangtse, a mob on July 9 destroyed 

 a newly constructed Catholic church, forced 

 the missionaries to flee for their lives, and then 



turned its fury against all Europeans, sacked 

 their houses, and threatened their lives. The 

 cause of this particular outbreak was probably 

 the fact that the missionaries had covered the 

 roof of their church with yellow tiles, choosing 

 the color appropriated to the Emperor ; though 

 the Catholic priests spread a report ascribing it 

 to the indiscreet conduct of American Protes- 

 tant missionaries. The residence of the apos- 

 tolic vicar was burned to the ground with all 

 its contents. The property of American and 

 English Protestant missionaries was likewise 

 destroyed. The foreign consuls escaped by 

 flight into other provinces. The scene of the 

 outbreak was the largest city in the populous 

 mountainous province of Szechuen. The dis- 

 turbance spread through the eastern part of 

 that province. Christian converts were killed 

 wherever found ; whole villages were destroyed. 

 In northern Cochin -China similar outrages 

 occurred. As many as fifty Christians were 

 massacred there, their houses burned, and their 

 lands devastated. The Chinese were predis- 

 posed to attacks on Christians by the fact that 

 native converts had fought with the Fre*nch in 

 Tonquin. They were furthermore embittered 

 against foreigners by the intelligence of the 

 persecution and massacre of Chinamen in the 

 United States. In June, an American Method- 

 ist lady missionary had been injured by a mob 

 in Chung-King, and the authorities had treated 

 lightly complaints made in this case. Previous 

 to this, Mr. and Mrs. Fulton, and Miss Mary 

 Fulton, of the American Presbyterian mission, 

 had, on May 6, been driven out of Kwai Ping, 

 four hundred miles southwest of Canton, and 

 the mission station and hospital established by 

 them were set on fire. 



Port Hamilton. In April, 1885, when war 

 with Russia seemed probable, the British ad- 

 miral on the China station, with the authoriza- 

 tion of the Government, acting at the sugges- 

 tion of Sir Harry Parkes, then minister at 

 Pekin, took possession of Port Hamilton, a 

 sheltered harbor formed by three small Corean 

 islands, lying between Quelpeart and the main- 

 land. The port thus annexed by Great Britain 

 is situate in the midst of a group of islets, 38 

 miles from the northeast coast of Quelpeart, in 

 34 north latitude, and 127i east longitude. 

 The harbor is spacious and safe, but the bottom 

 is not good, so that moorings are required for 

 firm anchorage. It was acquired as a coaling- 

 station and naval port, lying nearly 2,000 miles 

 nearer the Russian possessions on the Pacific 

 coast than Hong-Kong, and commanding the 

 Corean strait, which is always blockaded by 

 British vessels when a war is anticipated. The 

 sea routes between the Yangtse-Kiang, the 

 northern ports of China, and the treaty ports 

 of Japan, pass this point, which also commands 

 the southern approach to the Russian naval 

 arsenal of Vladivostock. 



The islands are inhabited, but can not be de- 

 pended upon to produce supplies of any kind, 

 except fish. When the English took possession 



